The Beachview Resort in Nelson Mandela Bay, once a vibrant coastal getaway, now lies in ruins after nearly two decades of neglect and municipal failure. With its infrastructure crumbling and rampant vandalism a constant headache, a decision has finally been approved for the resort’s demolition. For nearly two decades the Beachview Resort in Nelson Mandela Bay has stood as a slow-burning monument to municipal failure – a once-thriving coastal retreat allowed to disintegrate while warnings piled up and oversight collapsed.
Now, with its concrete frames buckling and vandals having stripped the buildings to skeletons, the metro has finally approved the resort’s demolition. But councillors insist the catastrophe was not inevitable – it was the product of inaction. ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom says one of the first inspections took place as early as 2016 under the DA-led coalition government – one of the earliest official attempts to confront the resort’s accelerating decline.
“When we made that visit under mayor Athol Trollip, the chalets were still there,” he said. “They’d been vandalised, but they were intact. There were even toilets – only the roofs were missing.” That inspection took place shortly after the municipality had taken over the management of the facility following a drowning the year before.
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“We said security had to be in place to protect the site,” Grootboom said. “We also recommended partnering with another business to manage the resort.” But security was later insourced – a move Grootboom believed would improve protection. Instead, vandalism intensified.
“It seems to me that insourcing caused even more problems. Now we’re left with a shell.” DA councillor Jason Grobbelaar reported the resort as a problem building two years ago, citing safety hazards and by-law violations. On Friday, 5 December he said he welcomed the demolition, saying the site had deteriorated so badly that it should be “returned to nature”.
“Beachview is a fantastic area with breathtaking views, a lookout, braai facilities and a tidal pool,” he said. “But the infrastructure is unsafe. Walls are unstable, bricks are falling – imagine a child playing there. I welcome the demolition, but it needs to happen fast.”
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